FALLING FROM GRACE


GAL. 5:4b ..., YOU WHO ATTEMPT TO BE JUSTIFIED BY LAW; YOU HAVE FALLEN FROM GRACE. ANY LEGAL SYSTEM PUTS YOU UNDER BONDAGE, and you have to follow it meticulously. Getting a TICKET FOR SPEEDING is an illustration. IT WILL CORRECT YOUR FUTURE BEHAVIOR. You become bound to obey. It hurts to have to pay a fine, and we don't want to hurt. It is an example of legalism that we all understand.

THIS IS WHAT IT MEANS TO FALL FROM GRACE: YOU ARE SAVED BY FAITH, THEN YOU DROP DOWN TO A LAW LEVEL TO LIVE.

We are not to live by law at all. THE LAW PRINCIPLE IS NOT THE RULE FOR CHRISTIAN LIVING. Paul is saying that since we have been saved by grace we are to continue on in this way of living. GRACE SUPPLIES THE INDWELLING AND FILLING OF THE SPIRIT TO ENABLE US TO LIVE ON A HIGHER PLANE THAN LAW DEMANDED.

WE CAN USE THE TEN COMMANDMENTS AS A LAW OF LIFE, BUT WE ARE CALLED TO A HIGHER LEVEL TO LIVE. THAT LEVEL IS WHERE THERE IS LIBERTY IN CHRIST. I have a liberty in Jesus Christ, and that liberty is not a rule, but a principle. It is that I am to please Him. MY CONDUCT SHOULD BE TO PLEASE JESUS CHRIST -- not to please you, not to please any organization, but only to please Him. That is the liberty that we have in the Lord Jesus Christ. "AND DO NOT BE ENTANGLED AGAIN WITH A YOKE OF BONDAGE."

CIRCUMCISION WAS THE BADGE OF THE LAW. A badge indicates to what organization or lodge you belong. Paul says that if you so much as put on the BADGE OF THE LAW, which is circumcision, THEN CHRIST DOES NOT PROFIT YOU ANYTHING. Now notice carefully what Paul is saying. IF YOU TRUST CHRIST PLUS SOMETHING ELSE YOU ARE NOT SAVED. If you go so far as to be circumcised, which is only the badge of the Law, or if you go through some other experience and rest your salvation on that, "CHRIST SHALL PROFIT YOU NOTHING."


There are three methods of trying to live the Christian life -- two of them will not work. One is a LIFE OF LEGALISM, which Paul has been discussing. The other is the LIFE OF LICENSE, which Paul discussed in Romans 6: AFTER WE ARE SAVED BY GRACE, CAN WE LIVE IN SIN? Paul's answer is, "GOD FORBID." You can't live in sin and be a Christian. Now you may fall into sin, but you will get out of it. The Christian life is neither the life of LEGALISM nor the life of LICENSE. The third method of living the Christian life is THE LIFE OF LIBERTY. IT IS GRACE, NOT LAW, THAT FREES US FROM DOING WRONG AND ALLOWS US TO DO RIGHT. Grace does not set us free to sin, but it sets us free from sin. You see, the believer should desire to please God, not because he must please Him like a slave, but because he is a son and he wills to please his Father

GAL 5:16 I SAY THEN: WALK IN THE SPIRIT, AND YOU SHALL NOT FULFILL THE LUST OF THE FLESH. The verb is literally translated, “KEEP ON WALKING.” As a believer walks through life he should depend on the indwelling Holy Spirit for guidance and power. But the Spirit does not operate automatically in a believer’s heart. He waits to be depended on. When a Christian does yield to the Spirit’s control, the promise is that he will not in anywise gratify the desires of the sinful nature.

LET US NOT BE LIKE AN EAGLE SCRATCHING IN THE DIRT WITH THE CHICKENS WHILE WE ARE CALLED TO SOAR IN THE HEAVENS.

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